How to write a tense scene (practical tips for adding tension and suspense to your writing)

How to write a tense scene, no matter what you're writing:
Tension is an essential tool to learn for writers, but it doesn't have to be mysterious. Sometimes the simplest of scenes can be the most tense.
In this video I break down a tense story I wrote this week and give you some practical tips for writing tense scenes, whatever kind of writing you're doing.
Tension is all about conflict and balance. Too much conflict too quickly and you'll have no tension, too little over too long and your readers will tune out.
Hopefully these tips will help you add some real tension to your writing, so you can cross that skill off your list and not feel so tense about it.
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Writing is my passion, and I love to support other writers and help them develop their writing along with me. I want to help you tell your best stories.
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Thanks for watching!
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[@andreannelavoie660]

I love walking through an example like that and peppering advice as you go. That was great! Loved the story too!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thanks so much! 😁 I liked this format too, felt like I could hit a couple of different things at once ☺️

[@nehukybis]

That's a wonderful insight - suspense, tension - it's all about information management. Knowing exactly what to reveal when. The abrupt or unexplained lack of information can also raise tension. A telephone line goes dead in the middle of a conversation, a contact misses a scheduled rendezvous, the telemetry feed of the remote drone cuts out for no apparent reason. One thing I do is set up multiple ways a catastrophe could occur to keep the reader guessing. And then when disaster strikes it causes a chain reaction, so all of the complications play out in some way. I think the >worst> thing to do is set up fake cliffhangers that are immediately resolved at the start of the next chapter. Conflict needs to move the story forward. If it isn't important to the story, it's just a distraction.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Yes! Absolutely agree with you on the fake cliffhangers. If something does more to please the writer than the reader then it’s probably a bad idea... It’s definitely information management the way I try to do it and your examples are great👌🏻 Thanks so much for watching as always!

[@writeitdown2013]

Love the idea of tipping the balance. And the ambiguity of the ending is fantastic. I wouldn't want to know what happens. Far more intriguing to wonder who he plans to shoot.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

That's always my preference too, I love ambiguity. I'd much rather end like that than dilute the story down to a nice palatable ending!

[@resistancepublishing]

Thank you for this. I needed to tighten up on a scene in my comic that I couldn’t get just right. Found that solution because of this video.

[@JoeyPaulOnline]

Oh I loved that scene, and the way it ended!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thank you! I love ambiguous endings, they're my favourite 😀

[@laurabesley7095]

This step-by-step is absolutely brilliant!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

You're too kind 😊 Hope your writing is going well!

[@axeledfalk2579]

Great video! Working on a short story right now using your advices

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Fantastic! Hopefully it can get the ball rolling for you.

[@Voice.of.the.Fire.Ministries]

Amazing! Just what I needed. You should do more tips like this with Dialogue and other parts if writing. Like Tenses, POV, and show vs tell.

[@magajinwilbafoshausanovel5190]

Love this. Thanks

[@chrisflynn2006]

Best example of suspense and tension imo would definetily be wrong turn escaping the cabin scene. That scene is a masterpiece

[@MeredithPhillipsWrites]

Great tips! I'll need to watch this again...multiple times, haha! Also, once again, let me know when your books/short story collection/flash fiction anthology is ready to buy. I'M READY.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thank you ☺️ hopefully some time in the first half of the year, I am S-L-O-W 😂

[@opollitico]

Agreed, definitely saving this one to a playlist to refer back to

[@gamewriteeye769]

Have you seen a novel with third person omniscient with multi pov first person(deep pov, primarily)? I do think one good way to build tension with a multi pov story is to have one character know something and another knowing nothing or both knowing two different things which leads to conflict. Currently in the outlining stage for a first real draft, finally(after a long zero draft), which now is upped from 6 narrators to feature 9 different narrators(wish me luck) but the story's rework of tightening the plot points as opposed to stretching them out will make for a very tense reading experience. Even if I had written it from just the original six, the plot points would lack information since some characters don't know anything of the background(taking major world-building steps).

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

That sounds like a great way to build tension too. I think if you can track it accurately, the concept of information that some characters know and some don't could drive reader interest well. It sounds like if you're tightening things, that's a good sign too, you're not struggling for material, clearly. Sounds like you're on track to me!

[@heal41hp]

"Ignorance builds tension." I got quite the lesson on this from Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, and I have been itching to utilize it in my writing since. Regarding quiet characters, though, how do you suggest writing that? That a character isn't doing anything? In one of your last excerpts, I saw you wrote, "Still the killer said nothing." How often would you point that out? How many words, how much space, do you devote to, well, nothing?

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Ooh good question. With quiet characters, the information has to come from other characters/narration, having them talk about how they feel uncomfortable, how the room is silent whenever another character stops speaking. It's an absence of movement and sound I suppose. I also like to make characters ask them a question, then another one, so that readers can infer that they received no reply. Focusing on physical actions like how they move, or turn a cup in their hands, or where they're looking can also help I find 🙂

[@heal41hp]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting That all sounds delightfully reasonable to me. I imagine pointing out ambient, background noises could be valuable, too, highlighting the lack of the quiet character's input. Like, asking them a question and only getting the buzz of the fluorescent lights in response. Or something.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

@@heal41hp Oh I love that, that’s exactly the kind of thing I was trying to describe, perfect.

[@heal41hp]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting I've been in a bit of a dry spell with writing for the last month or so, but now I feel a faint spark of inspiration to go work on a scene revolving around a quiet character causing tension. Thank you. :)

[@themeanderinghero4279]

Hey mate, Really enjoyed this. Love the specific craft advice. Thank you.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Fantastic I’m glad! More of this type of thing to come then ☺️

[@krampus5531]

this story *feels* liwke it was written by a british guy. (the way the gun was handled lol) But your video was EXTREAMLY helpful for what i needed to do, thank you for all the great tips and using your story as an example ^^

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

You’re absolutely right, I know nothing about firearms 😂 but I’m really glad it was helpful apart from that bit! Thanks for watching

[@binuserkaf]

This is magnificent

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Thank you!

[@johnparnham5945]

Useful

[@dacrewordsmith]

"...3 am-neighbourhood-cat stand-off..." Genre!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

'Yes, actually I'm an Amazon bestselling author, yes. Oh what genre?...3am Neighbourhood Cat Stand-Off.Yes, relatively new yes.' 😂😂😂

[@dacrewordsmith]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting We really need to have some kind of team-up on KZbin. I think we would kill. One day I'll record something...

[@StarlasAiko]

Letting the reader know of a threat way before the character knows about it is a bit difficult in third person limited...

[@ShawnWeekly]

🔥🔥🔥

[@opollitico]

Yay!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

😁 Probably my last video of this awful year! Thanks for watching for almost a whole year!

[@opollitico]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting absolutely my pleasure mate

[@TCFLELAETERNA]

What happened to your Flash Fiction Course? I cannot find it on Udemy.

[@theapavlou3030]

Just found your video! What would you suggest you do with tension for the end of book 1 for a 3 book series? I see this is 3 years old lol, still relevant

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Really good question, I haven't really approached a series myself, so my guess would only be as good as yours I'm afraid. My inclination though is to structure it so that each book has a standalone situation that can be a source of tension, as well as contributing to the overall narrative of the larger series. It might be worth checking out some established story structures (like 3 act structure etc) and seeing if you can build a plan around that perhaps.

[@demon__adrian393]

i felt slight tension but an immense amount of re speculation.

[@tyleigh4309]

I'm writing a story and have just one question? Please any advice would help

[@redhazevortex1541]

You could use the ignorance tip in the example by using the thoughts of the killer to inform readers on what he did and/or why. So it could be something like this: He's not going to understand. To him, I killed one of his own, but he wasn't there. (Name of killer)'s foot had not stopped tapping since he sat down. I told him to put the knife down and to walk away, to find another way to earn a living, but he insisted he wanted my wallet. Now, there's the tension of is Jim going to shoot a man that was just defending himself? Does Jim know his nephew robs people? Or you could have the killers thoughts show he had planned to kill Jim's nephew for a while and the tension would be is Jim going to take justice into his own hands?

[@LegendGod-tc6fv]

Please the discord link.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Here: discord.gg/DtBdqP5H

[@LegendGod-tc6fv]

@@KierenWestwoodWriting Thank you.

[@Forgot10Legends]

It would be funny if the killer said I didn’t do it

[@lilybishop5153]

They aren't that great if you get instructors who don't teach it's one thing to give links and not have visuals so I am on my own watching this video in order to write tension. I know it's a bit weird but I am looking for examples. Some of us learn visually.